National
Appeals court to hear DOMA case next week
House Dems urge Boehner to drop defense of anti-gay law
Litigation challenging the Defense of Marriage Act — as well as House Republicans’ continued defense of the anti-gay law — is receiving renewed attention as a court hearing is set to take place next week in Boston on the constitutionality of the statute.
On Wednesday starting at 10 a.m., a three-judge panel on the First Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on DOMA, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriage, marking the first time an appellate court has considered the constitutionality of the statute.
Normally, oral arguments before the court last 30 minutes, but that time has been extended for an entire hour because judges are hearing two cases: Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Department of Health & Human Services, filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.
The three-judge panel will be made up of Chief Judge Sandra Lynch as well as Judges Juan Torruella and Michael Boudin. Lynch was appointed by a Democrat, former President Bill Clinton, while Torruella was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan and Boudin was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush.
Representing GLAD at the hearings will be plaintiffs in the GLAD case as well as Mary Bonauto, GLAD’s civil rights project director, who in 2003 successfully argued for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Maura Healey is set to argue on behalf of her state’s lawsuit against DOMA.
The Justice Department, which, after dropping its defense of DOMA, joined in efforts to declare the law unconstitutional, will also have a presence in the courtroom. Stuart Delery, who’s gay and the acting assistant attorney general for the civil division, is set to represent the Obama administration. He was promoted Feb. 27 to the position.
Defending the anti-gay law in court will be Paul Clement, a solicitor general under former President George W. Bush whom House Speaker John Boehner hired to defend the statute. Clement will be coming to Boston to defend DOMA fresh from oral arguments before the Supreme Court in D.C. against the health care reform law.
The arguments that attorneys will make before judges will likely reflect the basis of the lawsuits they filed. GLAD contends that DOMA violates its plaintiffs’ rights under the Equal Protection Clause, while the State of Massachusetts has said DOMA interferes with a state’s Tenth Amendment right to regulate marriage. The Justice Department will likely join in these arguments.
On the other side, Clement will likely argue that DOMA is justified because it ensures uniformity with marriage laws and that marriage should be reserved for opposite-sex couples to ensure procreation.
In both DOMA cases that are coming before the First Circuit, DOMA was found unconstitutional at the district court level. U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro, a Nixon appointee, ruled in July 2010 that the anti-gay law was unconstitutional in both cases.
The cases come before the First Circuit just a month after a California federal court ruled against DOMA in the case of Golinski v. United States. In February, the U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled against DOMA on the basis that the anti-gay law “unconstitutionally discriminates against married same-sex couples.”
Jason Wu, a staff attorney for GLAD, said the California district court decision may play out in the oral arguments before the appellate court.
“It always helps when another court affirms what we believe is right, which is that DOMA represents a straight-forward equal protection violation and there is really no good reason to treat gay married couples differently from straight married couples,” Wu said. “The court in Golinksi agreed with us; the district court in Massachusetts, Judge Tauro’s opinion agreed with us. And that’s what will be presented to the First Circuit.”
Wu said GLAD hopes for a decision from the First Circuit in “a timely fashion” after the oral arguments, but said he couldn’t offer a more precise prediction for when a ruling would be handed down. The case dragged out after the Obama administration dropped the defense of DOMA and the House took up defense of the statute, and Wu said the prolonged duration of the lawsuit has harmed plaintiffs.
“It’s been almost two years actually since the district court’s ruling came down in our favor, and in that two-year period, our plaintiffs continue to be harmed,” Wu said. “One of our plaintiffs is owed $50,000, I believe, in tax harm. One of our plaintiffs, Herb Burtis, is 82 years old and continues to be denied the survivor Social Security benefits from his deceased spouse.”
Despite his hopes the case will be resolved, Wu added he expects the Supreme Court will take up the case after a decision is handed down.
“We need resolution as to the constitutionality of DOMA for all married couples in the country because it’s not just couples in Massachusetts who are being harmed by DOMA everyday,” Wu said.
House Republicans elected to take up defense of DOMA in court after the Obama administration early last year announced it would no longer defend the anti-gay statute. In the past week, the Republican defense of DOMA has come under fire from Democrats.
During a hearing before the House Appropriations Legislative Branch subcommittee on Tuesday, House Chief Administrative Officer Dan Strodel asserted Republican leadership had collected nearly $742,000 to fund defense of DOMA in court. Boehner had last year raised the cost cap of defending DOMA to $1.5 million.
Strodel testified that the money had come from the House Salaries, Officers and Employees account. Boehner had threatened to redirect funds from the Justice Department to pay for defense of the law, but Strodel said those funds hadn’t contributed to defense of the statute.
According to the Huffington Post, the issue of defending DOMA prompted a fiery debate between Democrats and Republicans.
Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) reportedly asked House General Counsel Kerry Kirchner why the House is defending an “unconstitutional law that separates all of us” and said the money could go to better uses, such as “resources to the family of Trayvon Martin in Florida.”
Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) toed the Republican line on DOMA saying, “When is the Department of Justice going to do their job? You can’t pick which laws you want to defend and which laws you don’t feel like enforcing.”
On Monday, six House Democrats — Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.) — sent a letter to Boehner renewing their earlier request for a briefing on his defense of DOMA as they urged him to stop defending the law in the wake of a California federal court’s decision against the statute.
“There simply is no legitimate federal interest served by denying married same-sex couples the federal responsibilities and rights that other married couples receive, and the harm caused to these families is unjustifiable,” the letter states. “Two federal courts have agreed, and it is no longer credible to claim that the law is not constitutionally suspect.”
Boehner’s office didn’t respond to the Washington Blade’s request for comment on the letter, but Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesperson, dismissed the letter when talking to the Huffington Post.
“Washington Democrats had two years of unified control over the House, the Senate and the White House to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act,” Steel was quoted as saying. “They chose not to try. We will continue to respect the law, which passed both Houses of Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.”
Activity also continues in other DOMA cases. On Monday, the Justice Department submitted briefs in the Golinski case asking the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite consideration of the case. Boehner’s lawyers last month appealed the decision to the the appellate court.
Boehner’s intervention in McLaughlin v. Panetta, the lawsuit filed on behalf of gay troops against DOMA by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, is also expected soon. The House has until April 28 to decide if it will defend the anti-gay law against the lawsuit.
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD
A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.
The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.
The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”
Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.
“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.”
Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.
“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.
Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.
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